Method for intelligent home controller and home monitor

ABSTRACT

A method utilizing a transmitter emitting a unique signal and a base station receiver having a database of household members is used to ascertain the identity of household members who are home at any particular time. Such information is used by the local telephone network to provide specialized telephone services to the household based on the identity of the household members who are home. A manual and emergency services override is provided to permit the completion of telephone calls from emergency services personnel and other persons irrespective of the presence or absence of any household member. The information regarding the presence or absence of household members also may be used to intelligently provide other household services such as heating and cooling or home security depending on the identity of persons who are home.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/801,417, filed Mar. 7, 2001, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,006,832on Feb. 28, 2006. This application is related by subject matter to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/801,418, filed Mar. 7, 2001, entitled“System For Intelligent Home Controller and Home Monitor,” which issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 7,054,645 on May 30, 2006, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/801,391, filed Mar. 7, 2001, entitled “Home ResourceController System.” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,739, by theinventor of the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system encompassing a transmittingand a receiving device that correlates a specific transmission to aparticular person at a particular location and so permits the identityof persons present in a location to be determined. Identification of thepersons who are present at a particular location at any given timeenables, for example, the provision of customized telephone servicesbased on the identity of the persons present, and further permits theprovision of other customized services within that location based on theidentity of the persons present.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The telephone is a necessity of modern life. But, because it is a sharedresource, it can be the source of family conflict in some households.For example, one person may become annoyed if they too frequently haveto answer a ringing phone and take messages for someone who is not home.In addition, answering call waiting signals for someone who is not athome can annoy both the person answering the call and the person theyput “on hold” to answer the call waiting signals. Furthermore, theperson who is not home can become angry if someone forgets to tell themabout an important call that was received by someone else while theywere away. The telephone bill can be another potential source of familyconflict. Teenagers may talk longer on toll calls than their parentswould prefer, or may access “900” or other numbers in contravention ofparental rules. Consequently, it is desirable to develop technology toprovide “intelligent” telephone services that can vary depending onwhether a particular person is home or on the identity of the personusing the telephone.

In addition, it may be desirable to provide a means for “intelligently”controlling certain other shared resources in the home, such as thethermostat or a home security system, depending on whether someone is athome.

One way in which this can be accomplished is to provide each householdmember with a transmitter that communicates to a base station in thehome, providing an indication that the person having the transmitter ishome. The base station can then upload that information to the telephonenetwork so that the telephone network can tailor its servicesaccordingly.

Previous technology that communicates to a telephone network has beenavailable. One such system is the AT&T Enhanced Personal Base Station(EPBS). The EPBS is part of AT&T's Fixed Wireless Service. When acustomer's wireless telephone is within range of the EPBS (i.e., insidethe home or business), the wireless telephone operates as though it werea cordless telephone operating on a wireline network. In other words,the wireless telephone provider will operate the wireless telephonedifferently depending on whether it is within range of a base stationreceiver in the home or office.

However, the EPBS system is limited to use with a wireless telephone,and people do not always take the wireless phones with them when theyleave home, or they may lend their wireless phone to other members ofthe household. Consequently, the EPBS does not adequately monitor when aperson is in fact at home. Moreover, the EPBS cannot determine who is athome.

Signal-transmitting devices also have been used to indicate the locationof the device's user relative to other wired or wireless communicationsdevices connected to a communications system. This technology isembodied in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,663, which pertains to asystem for automatically forwarding calls to wired or wireless deviceclose to that person without the need for the person activating ordeactivating the call forwarding system. However, this system only actsto forward calls made to a specific number. It does not identify thepersons who are home nor does it provide telephone or other servicesdepending on the identity of those persons.

It would be extremely desirable to develop technology for sendingtransmissions to a base station within the home that could moreaccurately indicate whether a person is in fact home. It would be evenmore desirable if the system could indicate whether that person had anyspecific characteristics, e.g., age, so that the telephone or otherservice provider could better tailor their services depending on who isat home.

The ability of a telephone network or other service provider“intelligently” to provide services to a household can improve householdlife. It also can open up new revenue opportunities for the serviceproviders by making it possible to sell service enhancements that morefully satisfy customer needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to solving these problems. The presentinvention accomplishes its desired results through the use of smalltransmitters that household members carry, either in their wallets or ontheir key chains, and a base station receiver in the home. Eachtransmitter periodically sends out a signal that identifies thetransmitter and thus the person associated with that transmitter. Thesignal is strong enough only to be picked up by the base station in thehome when the transmitter, and thus the person carrying it, is in thehome. The base station assumes that the person is home when it receivesa signal and, conversely, assumes that the person is not home when ithas not received a recent signal.

When the base station detects a change in the identity of who is athome, i.e., receives a different signal or detects that a signal has notrecently been received, it uploads that change information to a databasein the telephone network. The telephone network then uses thisinformation to “intelligently” provide services that depend on theidentity of who is home. Examples of such “intelligent” services are:

“RingWhenHome”: When there is a call for a household member who is notat home, the telephone would not ring, and thus, other household memberswho are at home would not be disturbed. The caller could then betransferred either to a voice mailbox or to another number.

“CallWaitingWhenHome”: When the line is busy and there is a call for ahousehold member who is not at home, the telephone would not give a callwaiting signal, and thus the household member already on the phone wouldnot be disturbed by the call waiting signal. The caller could then betransferred to a voice mailbox or to another number.

“IfNotHome”: Various services could be restricted to be available onlywhen a specific household member is at home. For example, outgoing callsto “900” telephone numbers or incoming calls from certain places couldbe denied unless a parent is at home.

In addition, the base station could be used as an “intelligent” homecontroller to customize other, non-telephone, shared resources in thehome. For example, the base station could be wired into the home'sheating and cooling system thermostat so that the home's temperaturecould be raised or lowered depending on who is at home. The base stationcould also be wired to a home security system so that it wouldautomatically activate it when the last person leaves the house anddeactivate it when the first person returns.

While the invention has been introduced in the context of a homecontroller and monitor, the present invention may have equalapplicability in a work environment. Consequently, it is an object ofthe present invention to provide a system for allowing a serviceprovider to more accurately determine who is at a given location. It isa further object of the present invention to permit a service providerto determine whether there is at that location a person with specialcharacteristics. Based on this information, it is a further object ofthe invention to permit the telephone or other service provider toprovide services “intelligently” tailored to meet the needs of thosepersons present.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B depict typical physical layouts of a transmitteraccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transmitter.

FIG. 3A depicts a typical physical layout of a base station according tothe present invention.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of the physical layout of a base station.

FIGS. 4A-4C depict the record layout of the Who's_Home database.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing how the transmitter and base station worktogether to update the base station Who's_Home database when a householdmember arrives home.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing how the base station Who's_Home databaseis updated after a household member leaves home.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing how the network database is updated.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart depicting an embodiment of the RingWhenHomeaspect of the present invention using a plurality of different telephonenumbers, each of which having a distinctive ring.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are flow charts depicting an embodiment of theRingWhenHome aspect of the present invention using touchtone means toidentify the person being called.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are flow charts depicting an embodiment of theRingWhenHome aspect of the present invention using voice recognitionmeans to identify the person being called.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are flow charts depicting an embodiment of theCallWaitingWhenHome aspect of the present invention using touchtonemeans to identify the person being called.

FIG. 12A depicts the record layout of the database of restrictedoutbound telephone numbers for the IfNotHome aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12B depicts the record layout of the database of restricted inboundtelephone numbers for the IfNotHome aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart depicting the use of the IfNotHome aspect of thepresent invention to block outbound calls.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart depicting the use of the IfNotHome aspect of thepresent invention to block incoming calls.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart depicting how the transmitter and the basestation work together to adjust the home's thermostat when a householdmember arrives home.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart depicting how the transmitter and the basestation work together to control the home's security system when ahousehold member leaves home.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention keeps track of which household members are at homeat any given time and uses that information to provide telephone andother services that depend upon who is home. Although the presentinvention will be described in the context of a home controller ormonitor, its principles easily may be extended to a business or workenvironment.

The invention consists of a small transmitter that each household membercan carry, either in a wallet or on a key chain; a base station locatedin the home for receiving transmissions emitted by the transmitters; abase station Who's_Home database; a network Who's_Home database; andvarious network facilities depending on the service to be provided.

The transmitter is designed to fit in a wallet or on a key chain becausepeople almost always take their wallets and/or their keys when theyleave home. This provides a means for accurately determining when aperson is or is not at home, since if the wallet or keychain containingthe transmitter is at home, the person also likely is at home. Inaddition, because people do not usually permit other household membersto carry their wallets or their keys, the present invention can moreaccurately determine that the specific person associated with aparticular transmitter is or is not home. This represents a substantialimprovement over prior transmitter/base station systems such as the AT&TEPBS system, which did not permit an accurate determination of whether aparticular person was home.

Throughout the following detailed description of the invention, when thesame reference numeral is used, the numeral refers to the same componentor step consistently throughout the Figures.

FIGS. 1A and 1B depict possible physical embodiments of the transmitter.As shown in FIG. 1A, the transmitter 101 may consist of a small card,for example, 54×86×5 mm in dimension, made of plastic or other material,a battery compartment 104, a battery (not shown), and a light emittingdiode (LED) (not shown). In FIG. 1B, the transmitter consists of a tag102 with a through hole 103, a battery compartment 104, a battery (notshown), and a LED (not shown). FIG. 2 is a block diagram that shows inmore detail the components of a transmitter 101, 102 used in the presentinvention, showing timer 201, transmitter controller 202, andradiotransmitter 203 that transmits via antenna 207. The transmitteralso contains battery 206 and battery strength sensor 204, as well ason-off switch 205.

FIG. 3A is a depiction of a possible physical layout of the base stationof the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3A, the base station 300 maycomprise a base station unit 320, with a receiver antenna 301, displayscreen 304, keyboard 308, and warning light 305. The base station plugsinto the home's electrical supply via power cord 309. The base stationcould also be equipped with a battery-powered backup so that theinformation in the database would not be lost in the event of a powerfailure. The base station is connected to the home's telephone systemvia telephone wire 313. In addition, the base station may be connectedto other appliances in the home such as the home's lighting system viaelectrical wire 310, to the home's thermostat via wire 312, or to thehome's security system controller via wire 311. FIG. 3B is a blockdiagram of the base station, showing the same components of the basestation in block diagram form. The base station shown in FIG. 3Bcontains receiver antenna 301 and receiver 302, processor 303, display304, and keyboard 308. The base station processor 303 may be a CPU, anASIC, an FPGA, or any other processor that provides equivalentprocessing capacity. The base station also contains a clock 307 andwarning light 305. The base station plugs into an ordinary electricaloutlet for power via electrical input 309. The base station also plugsinto a wire line telephone jack via telephone input/output port 313, andis capable of automatically initiating telephone calls to the localnetwork controller via dialer 315 and modem 314. As also shown in FIG.3A, the base station shown in FIG. 3B may also be connected to otherelectrical appliances in the home, for example, the home's lights, viaelectrical wire 310, to the home's thermostat via line 312, or to thehome's security system via line 311.

Upon installation of the base station 300, each household member'stransmitter 101, 102 is programmed into the base station database byentering the transmitter's unique identification number into thedatabase using keyboard 308. At this time, other information relating toa specific transmitter 101, 102 also can be entered. For example, atransmitter can be programmed to be “always home” so that the householdmember is treated as though he or she is at home even if a signal hasnot been received. Display 304 permits a user to see the information foreach transmitter entered into the database. The display 304 also permitsa user to see which transmitters are shown as “at home” at any giventime.

The base station processor 303 maintains a base station Who's_Homedatabase 306 that indicates which household members are home and whichare not home. FIGS. 4A and 4B depict the contents of a record in thebase station database 306. FIG. 4A depicts the contents of a headerrecord 410 that contains information relevant to all members of thehousehold, such as telephone number 411, street address 412, number oftransmitters in the household 413 (i.e., number of additional records inthe database), and an update flag 414. FIG. 4B depicts the contents of ahousehold member record 420 in the base station Who's_Home database 306.This record contains information such as the transmitter ID correlatingto that household member 421, the date and time 422 of the lasttransmission received from that transmitter, an “at home” flag 423indicating whether the transmitter is flagged as “at home,” an “alwayshome” flag 424 indicating whether the transmitter is always flagged asbeing “at home,” a battery flag 425 indicating whether the transmitterbattery is at low strength, and the name of the household member 426associated with that transmitter ID.

The invention also comprises a network Who's_Home database 430 as shownin FIG. 4C. This database 430 would contain a record 431 correspondingto the header record from the base station Who's_Home database for thefirst telephone number that is subscribed to one of the telephoneservices that uses the Who's_Home database (e.g., RingWhenHome) and arecord 432 containing all of the base station Who's_Home databaserecords that correspond to that header record 431, indicating who ishome and who is absent. The network Who's_Home database would thencontain a record 433 for the next telephone number and the correspondinghousehold member records 434, etc.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that shows an example of how the transmitter andreceiver would operate together to update the base station Who's_Homedatabase when a household member arrives home. Periodically, perhapsevery 15 minutes or less, the transmitter 101, 102 sends out viatransmit antenna 207 a unique signal 210 that identifies thetransmitter. The power of the signal 210 is too weak to be received whenthe person is not at home, but can be received by the base station 300when the person carrying the transmitter is in close proximity to thebase station, i.e., is at home. As shown in FIG. 5, when the signal 210is received by the base station receiver 302 at step 501, the basestation processor 303 extracts the transmitter's ID from the signal atstep 502, and at step 503 searches the base station Who's_Home database306 for a record 420 corresponding to the ID from that transmitter 101,102. If a record corresponding to that ID is not found at step 504, thebase station processor 303 ends the processing for that signal. If arecord 420 corresponding to that ID is found, the base station processor303 at step 505 replaces the date and time in the record with thecurrent date and time. The base station 300 then takes step 507 to seewhether the record is set as “at home.” If the answer at step 507 isyes, the base station 300 completes processing the signal. If the answerat step 507 is no, the base station 300 sets the “at home” flag on therecord 420 in the base station Who's_Home database 306 at step 508, setsthe “update” flag in the database header record 410 at step 509, andcompletes processing the signal.

FIG. 6 shows how the base station 300 operates to update the basestation Who's_Home database 306 after a household member leaves home. Atstep 601, the base station 300 reads the date and time shown in eachrecord 420 corresponding to a household member. If the date and timeshown in the record 420 at step 602 is older than some predeterminedtime, for example, more than 15 minutes before the present date andtime, the base station checks the record 420 at step 603 to determine atstep 604 whether the “at home” flag is set or whether the “always home”flag is set. If the “at home” flag is set, the base station 300 thenchecks at step 604 to see whether the “always home” flag is set. If theanswer at step 604 is yes, i.e., the household member associated withthat record 420 is deemed to be “always home,” the base station proceedsto step 607 to see whether the record just checked is the last record.If the answer at step 607 is yes, the base station proceeds to step 608to wait one minute and then proceeds back to the beginning to startchecking the records again as described above. If the answer at step 607is no, i.e., the record checked is not the last record, the base stationproceeds to step 609 to check the next record as described above. If the“always home” flag for that record 420 is not set, the base stationremoves the “at home” flag from the record 420 at step 605 and at step606 sets the “update” flag in the database header record 410. The basestation then returns to step 607 to continue this process for everyrecord 420 in the base station database 306, continually checking the“at home” status of the household members.

When there is a change in the “at home” status of a record in thedatabase, i.e., a change in who is at home, the base station 300initiates a telephone call to the local telephone network to update thenetwork's database 430. FIG. 7 is a flow chart depicting the manner inwhich the network database 430 is updated. After waiting a period oftime, for example, 15 minutes, the base station at step 702 reads theheader record 410 in the base station Who's_Home database 306. Thewaiting period may be used to allow the local database 306 to completeall updates to the records therein, for example, as a group of householdmembers enters or reenters the home.

If at step 703 the “update” flag in the header record 410 is set, thebase station 300 dials into the local network database 430 computer atstep 704 via the dialer 315 and modem 314 shown in FIG. 3. Uponconnecting with the local telephone network controller at step 705, thebase station 300 uploads the base station Who's_Home database 306 to thenetwork computer at step 707. This may be accomplished by any number ofconventional data transfer protocols, such as TCP/IP. When the datatransfer is complete at step 708, the network computer updates thenetwork Who's_Home database 430 at step 709. The base station thendisconnects the call at step 710 and clears the “update” flag in thebase station database header record 410 at step 711.

The network Who's_Home database then is used by the local telephonenetwork to provide various “intelligent” telephone services to thesubscriber depending on who is home.

One such service, which may be called “RingWhenHome,” would use thelocal telephone network's “Who's_Home” database to selectively permitthe telephone to ring if the recipient of the telephone call is home or,if the recipient of the telephone call is not at home, to take apre-specified action such as immediately transferring the caller to avoice mailbox or to a pre-specified forwarding number without ringingthe phone.

In one embodiment of RingWhenHome, shown in FIG. 8, use would be made ofa currently existing service provided by Verizon, called “DistinctiveRing™.” (“Distinctive Ring™” is a registered trademark of Verizon)Distinctive Ring™ permits a telephone subscriber to have multipletelephone numbers or telephone extensions assigned to the same wiretelephone line, each of which numbers causes the telephone to ringdifferently. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing this embodiment of thepresent invention. In this embodiment, when the local telephone networkswitch receives an incoming call at step 801, the network first takesstep 802 to see whether the line is busy. If the answer at this step isyes, the switch transfers processing to CallWaitingWhenHome, asdescribed in FIG. 9 and in more detail below. If the answer at step 802is no, the local network controller then checks the local networksubscriber database at step 803 to see whether the called telephonenumber subscribes to the RingWhenHome service. If the answer at step 803is no, the switch proceeds to step 807 and the telephone rings. If theanswer at step 803 is yes, the telephone network controller proceeds tostep 804 to look up the corresponding person in the network's Who's_Homedatabase 430 to determine whether the transmitter 101, 102 associatedwith that number has been flagged as “at home” by the base stationdatabase 306 in the home. If the answer at step 805 is yes, the networkcontroller assumes that the called party is at home and proceeds to step808, permitting the telephone to ring. However, if the answer at step805 is no, the network controller assumes that the called party is notat home and does not ring the phone. Instead, the network controllerproceeds to step 806 and routes the telephone call in accordance withthe instructions that the owner of the transmitter has preselected. Forexample, the telephone network controller may send a signal that makesthe caller think the telephone is ringing, i.e., the caller gets “ring,no answer.” Alternatively, the network controller may transfer thecaller to a voice mailbox or to a pre-specified forwarding number. It ishighly possible that the RingWhenHome system could be configured topermit a user to select and change these options at will, therebyenhancing their usefulness to the consumer.

In another embodiment of RingWhenHome, instead of each household memberbeing assigned a unique telephone number or extension as describedabove, all household members would continue to share the same telephonenumber. In this embodiment, shown in the flow charts at FIGS. 9A-10B,when the local network switch receives an incoming call at step 901, thecaller is greeted with an announcement at step 905 asking the caller toindicate the person whom he or she is calling. The response to thisannouncement can be obtained in many ways. For example, as shown inFIGS. 9A and 9B, existing touch-tone technology could be used. In such acase, the telephone network controller could play an announcement suchas the following:

-   -   If you're calling John, press 1    -   If you're calling Mary, press 2    -   If you're calling Joe, press 3        Alternatively, speech recognition technology could be used as        depicted in FIGS. 10A and 10B, with an announcement similar to        the following announcement being played:    -   “Please state whether you are calling John, Mary, or Joe.”        Both touch-tone and speech recognition technology are well-known        and well-established in the telecommunications art, and one        skilled in the art could readily understand how this technology        could be used in the present invention. Both touch-tone and        speech recognition technology also may be used to select the        call recipient via an extension off the main telephone number.        In any of these cases, the caller also may be given an option to        select multiple call recipients or may be given an option to        select “any” household member as the call recipient.

Using the flow chart at FIGS. 9A and 9B as exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, when an incoming call is received by the localtelephone network controller, the local telephone network controllerfirst checks at step 902 to determine whether the line being called isbusy. If the answer at this step 902 is yes, the network controllerproceeds to process the call in accordance with CallWaitingWhenHome asdescribed in more detail below. If the answer at step 902 is no, thenetwork controller then proceeds to step 903 to determine whether thetelephone number being called subscribes to RingWhenHome. If the answerat this step 903 is no, the network controller permits the call to gothrough and the telephone number to ring. If the answer at step 903 isyes, the network controller proceeds to step 904 and gets the names ofhousehold members from the network's Who's_Home database 430 andproceeds to step 905 to ascertain the identity of the person beingcalled as described in detail above. After the selection of the calledparty is made at step 906, the network controller proceeds to steps909-910 to check the network Who's_Home database 430 as described aboveto determine whether the called party is at home. Based on the answer atsteps 909 and 910, the network controller would take the appropriateaction to route the call. For example, if the answer at step 910 is yes,i.e., the person being called is “at home,” the network controllerpermits the phone to ring. If the answer at step 910 is no, i.e., theperson being called is not “at home,” the network controller does notcomplete the call. Instead, the controller may play a message at step913 asking, for example, the caller to either leave a message or selectanother call recipient. The network controller checks at step 914 to seewhat option the caller selected, and takes the appropriate action atstep 915, e.g., transfers the caller to a voice mailbox.

Another use for the present invention permits household members who areat home but who do not wish to be disturbed to simply turn off theirtransmitters. Because the base station 300 would then not receive asignal from that transmitter 101, 102, it would place an entry in thebase station's Who's_Home database 306 and upload that information tothe network Who's_Home database 430. Because the network's Who's_Homedatabase 430 would then show that person as not being home, telephonecalls would be treated accordingly under RingWhenHome. That is, calls tothat person would silently be rerouted while other family members wouldcontinue to receive calls.

An additional embodiment of the present invention may be known as“CallWaitingWhenHome.” The service encompassed by this embodiment issimilar to the “RingWhenHome” embodiment but differs in when the servicewould apply. “RingWhenHome” applies when the telephone is not busy anduses the apparatus and system of the present invention to determinewhether the telephone should ring. CallWaitingWhenHome would apply whenthe telephone is busy and determines whether a call waiting signalshould issue.

CallWaitingWhenHome operates in a manner similar to RingWhenHome. Asshown in the flow chart at FIGS. 11A-11B, when the local network switchreceives an incoming call at step 1101, the network checks the networksubscriber database at step 1103 to determine whether the number beingcalled subscribes to CallWaitingWhenHome. The identity of the calledparty may be determined in any of the ways described above for“RingWhenHome,” utilizing either multiple telephone numbers for a singleline in the home or touch-tone or voice recognition technology to permitthe caller to indicate the person who is being called.

If the answer at step 1103 is yes, the telephone network controller thenproceeds to steps 1111 and 1112 and looks in the network's Who's_Homedatabase 430 to determine whether the transmitter associated with thatnumber has been flagged as “at home” by the base station database 306.If the answer at step 1112 is yes, the network controller assumes thatthe called party is at home and proceeds to step 1116, permitting a callwaiting signal to sound. However, if the answer at step 1112 is no, thenetwork controller assumes that the called party is not at home and doesnot sound a call waiting signal. Instead, the network controllerproceeds to step 1113 and routes the telephone call in accordance withthe instructions that the owner of the transmitter has preselected. Forexample, the telephone network controller may send a signal that makesthe caller think the telephone is ringing, i.e., the caller gets “ring,no answer.” Alternatively, the network controller may proceed to step1114, play a message asking the caller to leave a message or selectanother call recipient, and take appropriate action based on the choicemade by the caller.

As seen above, in each of “RingWhenHome” and “CallWaitingWhenHome,” itis possible give the caller an option to select another call recipientbefore being transferred to voice mail. This could be accomplished bythe playing of an announcement as follows:

-   -   “The person you are calling is not available. If you would like        to select another recipient of the call, press 1. If you would        like to leave a message, press 2.”        Of course, this option could also be provided via voice        recognition technology as well.

In addition, the base station could also be programmed to accept andrecognize signals from the transmitters of non-household members, e.g.,visitors to the home. In one embodiment, the unique ID number for thevisitor's transmitter 101, 102 could be entered into the base stationdatabase 306 via the keyboard 308. Alternatively, the base station 300could be programmed to automatically create a “temporary” recordwhenever a signal from a non-household member's transmitter is received.In either case, the base station processor 303 would then create a“visitor” record in the base station's Who's_Home database 306, whichwould be uploaded into the local network controller's Who's_Homedatabase 430. The local network controller could then flag the network'srecord for the visitor's transmitter to forward calls to the telephonenumber of the household member being visited. The “temporary” recordwould automatically be deleted by the base station's Who's_Home database306 when a signal from the corresponding transmitter has not beenreceived for a period of time. Alternatively, the base station 300 couldprovide a means for manually deleting that record from the database 306.

Another example of a telephone service that could use the network'sWho's_Home database may be called “IfNotHome.” Various telephone networkservices could be restricted to be available only when a specifichousehold member is at home. The IfNotHome service can be used torestrict both outgoing and incoming calls. For example calls to “900”telephone numbers or calls from certain numbers could be denied unless aparent is home.

Outgoing calls could be restricted as follows. The list of restrictedoutbound telephone numbers and the persons who must be home for calls tothose numbers to be completed could be established at the time thecustomer subscribes to IfNotHome. In this embodiment of IfNotHome, thesubscriber would select the outgoing telephone numbers that are to berestricted and the identity of the person or persons who must be home inorder to allow calls to that telephone number to be completed. Theserestricted outgoing telephone numbers and the corresponding persons whomust be home would then be recorded in a network IfNotHome (OutboundVersion) database 1201 maintained by the local telephone network. Atypical record layout for this database is shown in FIG. 12A. Eachrecord in the IfNotHome (Outbound Version) database 1201 would contain afield 1211 containing a telephone number that subscribes to IfNotHome(Outbound Version), a field 1221 containing the telephone numbers thatcan only be called from the telephone number in field 1211 if at leastone specified person is home, and fields 1231, 1241 containing thetransmitter IDs of household members at least one of whom must bepresent for the telephone call from the telephone number in field 1211to a telephone number in field 1221 to be completed. In this embodimentof IfNotHome, the subscriber easily could make changes to the list ofrestricted numbers or to the identity of the required persons bytelephone, e-mail, or other communication to the network's customerservice department.

Alternatively, the list of restricted outbound telephone numbers andcorresponding persons who must be home could be created by thesubscriber upon setup of the base station 300 by having the subscriberinput the list of restricted telephone numbers and the list of requiredpersons into an IfNotHome outgoing number database in the base station300. The base station would then upload the home IfNotHome outgoingnumber database to the network's IfNotHome (Outbound Version) database1201 as shown in FIG. 12A. This home IfNotHome outgoing number databasemay be updated or revised at any time by the user making the appropriatechanges to the database. When there is a change to the home IfNotHomedatabase outgoing number database, the base station 300 uploads thechange to the network IfNotHome (Outbound Version) database 1201. Toprevent unauthorized revision to the list of restricted numbers orrequired persons, access to the list could be controller by use of apassword or other security means.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing how IfNotHome would work to restrictoutgoing calls using the present invention. When a household memberinitiates an outbound call at step 1301, the telephone networkcontroller first proceeds to step 1302 to determine whether the call isoriginating from a line that subscribes to IfNotHome. If the answer atstep 1302 is no, the telephone network controller proceeds to step 1309,and permits the call to be completed. If the answer at step 1302 is yes,the telephone network controller then proceeds to step 1303 to get thelist of restricted outbound telephone numbers from the network'sIfNotHome database 1201, and then to step 1304 to search the IfNotHomedatabase 1201 to see whether the called number is restricted to beavailable only when certain household members are home. If the answer atstep 1304 is no, i.e., the number is not on the IfNotHome database, thetelephone network controller proceeds to step 1310 and permits the callto be completed. If the answer at step 1304 is yes, i.e., the number ison the IfNotHome database 1201 of restricted numbers, the telephonenetwork controller then proceeds to step 1305 to check the IfNotHomedatabase 1201 for the identity of household members who must be homebefore the call may be completed. The controller then proceeds to step1306 to check the network Who's_Home database 430 to see the identity ofthose persons who are flagged as “at home” and then to step 1307 tocheck the network's Who's_Home database 430 to see whether a requiredhousehold member is home. If the answer at step 1307 is yes, i.e., arequired household member is home, the telephone network controllerproceeds to step 1311 and permits the call to be completed. If theanswer at step 1307 is no, i.e., a required household member is nothome, the telephone network controller proceeds to step 1308 and takes apredetermined action, e.g., plays an announcement to the callerexplaining why the call cannot be made.

Incoming calls could similarly be restricted. FIGS. 12B and 14 show howIfNotHome would restrict incoming calls. As shown in FIG. 12B,restricted incoming telephone numbers would be entered into a networkIfNotHome (Inbound Version) database 1202 similar to the networkIfNotHome (Outbound Version) database 1201 described above.Specifically, each record in the database 1202 would have a field 1212containing a telephone number that is subscribed to IfNotHome (InboundVersion), a field 1222 containing the telephone numbers that can callthe telephone number listed in field 1212 only if at least one requiredhousehold member is home, and fields 1232, 1242 containing thetransmitter IDs of household members at least one of whom must bepresent for the telephone call from the telephone number in field 1222to the telephone number in field 1212 to be completed. As is the casewith the IfNotHome (Outbound Version) database 1201, the networkIfNotHome (Inbound Version) database 1202 would contain the informationeither provided by the subscriber at the time of subscription toIfNotHome (Inbound Version) or uploaded from a home IfNotHome (InboundVersion) database in the base station 300 established by the user. Aswith the network IfNotHome (Outbound Version) database 1201, the networkIfNotHome (Inbound Version) database 1202 could be updated by thetelephone company after the subscriber communicates with the customerservice department by telephone, e-mail, fax, or other means, or throughan upload of changes from the home IfNotHome (Inbound Version) database.

As shown in the flow chart at FIG. 14, if a call is made to a telephoneline that subscribes to IfNotHome, the telephone network controllerwould first take step 1404 to check the IfNotHome database 1202 ofrestricted inbound telephone numbers to determine whether the incomingtelephone number is restricted. If the answer at step 1404 is no, i.e.,the telephone number is not restricted, the network controller proceedsto step 1410 and permits the telephone call to be completed. If theanswer at step 1404 is yes, i.e., the number is on the database ofrestricted numbers 1202, the network controller proceeds to step 1405and checks the IfNotHome database 1202 to determine the identity of ahousehold member who must be home before the call can be completed, andthen proceeds to steps 1406 and 1407 to check the network's Who's_Homedatabase 430 to see whether a required household member is home. If theanswer at step 1407 is yes, i.e., a required household member is home,the network controller proceeds to step 1411, and permits the call to gothrough. If the answer at step 1407 is no, i.e., a required householdmember is not home, the network controller proceeds to step 1408 andtakes a pre-specified action. Possible pre-specified actions includehaving the network controller play an announcement to the callerexplaining that the call cannot be completed, send a signal that makesthe caller think the telephone is ringing even though it is not,transfer the caller to a voice mailbox, or transfer the caller to apre-specified forwarding number.

In all of the above embodiments of telephone services using the systemof the present invention, the local network controller can be configuredto permit all calls from emergency services such as police, fire, andrescue to be completed and ring, regardless of the “at home” status ofany transmitter 101, 102 of any household member, i.e., even if allhousehold members are shown as not at home in the network's Who's_Homedatabase 430. The purpose of this feature is to ensure the safety ofhousehold members and emergency services personnel. In the event of anautomatic alarm on a monitored system, for example during a burglary,the safety of the police and the consumer is at stake. In such aninstance, a call from the police to the household must be permitted togo through to ensure that the alarm is false before the police breakdown the home's door with weapons drawn.

In addition, the user upon installation or at any time thereafter mayspecify that certain telephone numbers always ring. The purpose of thisoverride would be, for example, to permit emergency phone calls from achild's school always to be completed. These numbers could be containedin a network “AlwaysRing” database that is similar to the list ofrestricted outgoing or incoming telephone numbers contained in thedatabases 1201 and 1202 for the outbound and inbound versions ofIfNotHome. As with the case of the Outbound and Inbound versions of theIfNotHome databases 1201 and 1202, the list of incoming telephonenumbers in the network “Always Ring” database could be established bythe subscriber by direct communication with the telephone company'scustomer service department (i.e., by telephone, e-mail, fax or othermeans) or could be uploaded from a list in the base station 300 set upby the user.

The present invention could also be used as an “intelligent” homecontroller to customize other, non-telephone, resources in the homeaccording to who is home. In this embodiment, the base station 300 couldbe wired to the household's heating and cooling system thermostat viainterface 312 in the base station. Using existing programmablethermostat technology, the thermostat could be programmed to set thehousehold's temperature according to who is home. In this embodiment ofthe present invention, the record 420 for each household member in thebase station database 306 would also include information regardingwhether that household member has a need for special temperaturesettings. Household members requiring special thermostat settings mayinclude, for example, an infant, an elderly person, or a householdmember who is ill.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart that shows how the transmitter and base stationof the present invention could be used to set the home's temperature. Asshown in FIG. 15, when the base station 300 receives a unique signalfrom a transmitter 101,102 (step 1501), the base station processor 303first extracts the transmitter's identification information from thatunique signal at step 1502. At step 1503, the base station processor 303checks the base station database 306 to see whether the received signalcorrelates to a record 420 found in the base station database 306. Ifso, the base station processor 303 takes step 1504 to check whether therecord is set as “at home”, and sets the record's “at home” flag at step1505 if it is not already set. The base station processor 303 then takesdecision step 1506 and checks the record 420 associated with thattransmitter to see whether the record includes any specific temperaturerequirements, e.g., that the home is to be maintained especially warm orcool. If the answer at step 1506 is no, the base station processor 303ends the processing for that signal. If the answer at step 1506 is yes,the base station processor 303 then adjusts the temperature accordinglyvia thermostat interface 312. It can easily be seen that the basestation could also be programmed to automatically lower the home'stemperature when the base station does not receive a signal from anytransmitter for a predetermined period of time. In this manner, thepresent invention could lower the cost of heating and cooling the home.

Yet another use for the present invention is to use it to intelligentlyoperate a home security system. In this embodiment of the invention, thehome's security system would be connected to the base station 300 viasecurity system interface 311, as shown in FIG. 3A. FIG. 16 is a flowchart depicting how the transmitter and base station of the presentinvention can be used to set the home's security system. As shown inFIG. 16, the base station processor 303 periodically reads the DATE andTIME information in each household member record 420 to determinewhether all household members are at home.

To begin processing, the base station processor 303 starts with thetotal number of records 420 in the base station database 306, i.e., thetotal number of household members, equal to N, the processor's “not athome” counter C set at 0, and the number i of the record 420 to bechecked set at 0. The base station processor 303 then proceeds to step1601 to check whether the record 420 currently being checked is the lastrecord 420 in the base station database 306, i.e., whether i=N. If theanswer at step 1601 is no, the base station processor 303 proceeds tostep 1602 and sets i=i+1 to read the next record 420 in the base stationdatabase 306.

The base station processor 303 then proceeds to step 1603 to read theDATE and TIME recorded in the record 420, and then to step 1604 to seewhether the DATE and TIME in that record 420 is older than somepredetermined length of time, for example, more than 15 minutes old. Ifthe answer at step 1604 is no, the base station processor 303 returns tostep 1601 and checks to see whether the record 420 just read is the lastrecord 420 in the base station database 306. If the answer at step 1601is no, the base station processor 303 goes to step 1602 and proceeds tocheck the next record 420 in the base station database 306 in the samemanner.

If the answer at step 1604 is yes, i.e., the date and time on the record420 is older than the predetermined time, the base station processor 303proceeds to step 1605 to see whether the “at home” flag in the record420 is set. If the answer at step 1605 is yes, the base stationprocessor 303 clears the “at home” flag at step 1606 and goes to step1607 and sets the processor's “not at home” counter C to C=C+1, i.e.,the number of persons not at home has increased by one. The base stationprocessor 303 then returns to step 1601 to check whether the record 420just processed is the last record 420 in the base station database 306and processes the next record 420 in the base station database 306 asdescribed above.

If at any time, the answer at step 1601 is yes, i.e., the record 420just processed is the last record 420 in the base station database 306,the base station processor 303 proceeds to step 1609 to check whetherthe “not at home” counter C is equal to the number of household membersN, i.e., whether all the records 420 in the base station database 306are flagged as “not at home.” If the answer at step 1609 is no, the basestation processor 303 ends processing the records 420 until it beginsagain after some predetermined time. If the answer at step 1609 is yes,i.e., the base station “not at home” counter C is equal to the totalnumber of household members N, the base station processor 303 sets thehome's security system via security system interface 311.

It can easily be seen how the present invention could work in a conversemanner to turn off the home's security system when the base stationdetects a signal from a household member's transmitter, i.e., when ahousehold member arrives home. In this manner, the present inventioncould automatically operate the home's security system when householdmembers leave and arrive home, and household members would not have toremember a code, remember to activate the system when leaving home orrush to unlock and deactivate the system when returning.

The base station further could be wired into one or more lights in thehome. In this way the present invention could be used to periodicallyturn those lights on and off when no one is at home, thereby enhancingsecurity by giving the house a “lived-in” look.

Of course, each of these systems for heating and cooling, home security,and lighting could have a manual override so that they may be controlledby a household member independently of the “at home” status of anytransmitter.

The invention also could have an automatic system to notify householdmembers when to replace or recharge the batteries in their transmitters.As shown in FIG. 5, when the base station receives a transmission from atransmitter, in addition to extracting the transmitter's unique ID atstep 502, it also extracts the battery strength status from the signalas well. The base station then checks whether the battery status is“weak” at step 506. If the answer at this step 506 is yes, the basestation at step 510 sets the “battery” flag in the database recordcorresponding to that transmitter, and could then alert the householdmember in several ways. For example, the base station or the transmittercould have a red light that flashes to indicate a low battery as shownat step 511. Alternatively, upon detecting a signal indicating a weakbattery, the base station could upload that information with the rest ofthe household database into the network database. The network could thenplace a telephone call to the household and play a message indicatingthat a transmitter's battery needs to be replaced or recharged.

While the present invention has been described with respect toparticular embodiments, it should be apparent that other arrangementsare possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Forexample, the transmitter could be designed to be carried by a householdmember in ways other than in the wallet or on a keychain, for example,as a medallion to be worn about the neck or as a device to be clipped toa belt. Though the invention has been described as being used in thehome for household members, it easily could be adapted to use in abusiness or any other environment where it is desirable to tailortelephone or other services depending on who is physically present inthat location. In addition, although three specialized telephoneservices are disclosed in the present application, the present inventioncould be used for any telephone or other service where it is desirableto tailor the service according to whether a particular person ispresent or whether any person is present or according to the number ofpersons present. Moreover, although the invention has been described asusing a base station that is connected to the telephone network viawires, it is possible to use the present invention with a base stationthat uses wireless means to communicate with the telephone or otherservice network.

1. A method for managing telephone service for a plurality of personssharing a common telephone and utilizing a plurality of telephonenumbers that may be accessed via the common telephone, each of thetelephone numbers being associated with one or more of the persons,based on determining whether a person associated with a telephone numberand sharing the common telephone is as the location served by the commontelephone and for restricting completion of a telephone call to one ofthe telephone numbers accessible via the common telephone to permit saidtelephone call to be completed only when a person associated with thattelephone number is present at the location served by the commontelephone, comprising the steps of: periodically transmitting a uniquesignal from a transmitter adapted to accompany the person; receivingsaid signal in a base station serving each person sharing the commontelephone at the location served by the common telephone, the basestation containing a processor, a receiver, and for each person sharingthe common telephone, a database record unique to the person; the signalemitted by said transmitter having sufficient strength to be received bysaid base station receiver only when said transmitter is in closeproximity to said receiver; processing said unique signal within thebase station; correlating said unique signal to the unique recordmaintained for each person in the base station database; recording areceipt of said signal in said base station database record; recording afailure to receive said signal in said base station database record;whereby the base station database maintains a record for each personsharing the common telephone indicating whether that person is or is notat the location served by the common telephone; upon detecting a changein at least one of said records in said base station database,initiating a wire line telephone call over the common telephone to alocal telephone network controller located in the telephone networkproviding telephone service to the common telephone; uploading saidchanged records in the base station database via the wire line telephonecall into a network database maintained by the local telephone networkcontroller, thereby to record in the network database whether each ofthe persons sharing the common telephone is or is not at the locationserved by the common telephone; after uploading said base stationdatabase, disconnecting said telephone call to the local telephonenetwork controller; maintaining in the network database records adatabase of subscriber numbers including the plurality of telephonenumbers associated with the common telephone; maintaining in the networkdatabase records, for each of the telephone numbers associated with thecommon telephone, a list of persons associated with each of thetelephone numbers; receiving an inbound telephone call to one of thetelephone numbers associated with the common telephone; checking theupdated network database to determine whether at least one personassociated with the telephone number is present at the location servedby the common telephone; and permitting said inbound telephone call tobe completed only if said at least one required person is present at thelocation served by the common telephone; and providing another serviceto the caller if said at least one required person is not present at thelocation served by the common telephone.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising maintaining within the base station databaserecords a list of telephone numbers associated with at least one of thepersons sharing the common telephone; upon a change in at least one ofthe records in said base database list of telephone number associations,initiating a wire telephone call over the common telephone to the localtelephone network controller; uploading said changed telephone numberlist records in the base station database via the wire line telephonecall into the network database records, thereby to record in the networkdatabase an updated list of telephone numbers associated with personssharing the common telephone; after uploading said base stationdatabase, disconnecting said telephone call to the local telephonenetwork controller.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stepof providing another service to the caller if said at least one requiredperson is not present at the location served by the common telephone isselected from the steps of: giving an appearance to a caller that atelephone is ringing without being answered, transferring a caller to avoice mailbox, transferring a caller to a predetermined alternatetelephone number, and giving a caller an opportunity to select anothercall recipient.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingthe step of permitting a call waiting signal to be given only if theperson associated with telephone number being called is home.
 5. Amethod for managing telephone service for a plurality of persons sharinga common telephone line based on determining whether a person sharingthe common telephone line is as the location served by the commontelephone line and for restricting completion of a telephone call overthe common telephone line to permit said telephone call to be completedonly when a required person is present at the location served by thecommon telephone line, comprising the steps of: periodicallytransmitting a unique signal from a transmitter adapted to accompany theperson; receiving said signal in a base station serving each personsharing the common telephone line at the location served by the commontelephone line, the base station containing a processor, a receiver, andfor each person sharing the common telephone line, a database recordunique to the person; the signal emitted by said transmitter havingsufficient strength to be received by said base station receiver onlywhen said transmitter is in close proximity to said receiver; processingsaid unique signal within the base station; correlating said uniquesignal to the unique record maintained for each person in the basestation database; recording a receipt of said signal in said basestation database record; recording a failure to receive said signal insaid base station database record; whereby the base station databasemaintains a record for each person sharing the common telephone lineindicating whether that person is or is not at the location served bythe common telephone line; upon detecting a change in at least one ofsaid records in said base station database, initiating a wire linetelephone call over the common telephone line to a local telephonenetwork controller located in the telephone network providing telephoneservice to the common telephone line; uploading said changed records inthe base station database via the wire line telephone call into anetwork database maintained by the local telephone network controller,thereby to record in the network database whether each of the personssharing the common telephone line is or is not at the location served bythe common telephone line; after uploading said base station database,disconnecting said telephone call to the local telephone networkcontroller; maintaining in the network database records a database ofsubscriber numbers including a subscriber number associated with thecommon telephone line and at least one subscriber telephone numbersincluding a subscriber number associated with the common telephone linethat has restrictions on completing telephone calls; maintaining in thenetwork database records, for each of said subscriber telephone numbersthat have restrictions on completing telephone calls, a list of at leastone restricted telephone number; maintaining within the base stationdatabase records a list of at least one restricted telephone numberassociated with at least one of the persons sharing the common telephoneline; upon detecting a change in at least one of the records in saidbase database list of restricted telephone numbers, initiating a wireline telephone call over the common telephone line to the localtelephone network controller; uploading said changed restrictedtelephone number list records in the base station database via the wireline telephone call into the network database records, thereby to recordin the network database an updated list of restricted telephone numbersassociated with persons sharing the common telephone line; afteruploading said base station database, disconnecting said telephone callto the local telephone network controller; maintaining a networkdatabase of unrestricted telephone numbers for emergency serviceproviders; receiving a telephone call completion attempt with respect tothe subscriber number of the common telephone line; checking the networkdatabase to determine if the telephone call completion attempt involvesone of the telephone numbers for emergency service providers, and if so,always permitting a telephone call completion attempt with respect tosaid emergency service providers to be completed, and if not, checkingthe network database to determine whether said telephone call completionattempt is with respect to a subscriber telephone number that hasrestrictions on completing telephone calls; checking the updated networkdatabase list of restricted telephone numbers to determine whether saidtelephone call completion attempt with respect to said subscribertelephone number may be completed only if at least one required personis present; checking the updated network database to determine whethersaid at least one required person is present at the location served bythe common telephone line; and permitting said inbound telephone call tobe completed only if said at least one required person is present at thelocation served by the common telephone line; and providing anotherservice to the caller if said at least one required person is notpresent at the location served by the common telephone line.
 6. Themethod according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:maintaining a list of unrestricted telephone numbers in the basestation; and always permitting a telephone call attempt with respect tothe telephone numbers in said unrestricted telephone number list to becompleted.
 7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising thestep of uploading said list of unrestricted telephone numbers to thelocal telephone network controller whenever there is a change to saidlist of unrestricted telephone numbers.
 8. The method according to claim7, further comprising the step of updating said database of unrestrictedtelephone numbers by performing a step selected from: telephoning acustomer service department within a local telephone network provider,sending electronic mail to a customer service department within a localtelephone network provider, and sending mail to a customer servicedepartment within a local telephone network provider.